Guidelines to Finding that One Special Girl
by LeighthalZombie
Summary: Kankurou likes it when things are simple. He doesn't like mind games, or IQ tests, and especially not exams. He doesn't like poetry, old writings, paperwork. But most of all, Kankurou doesn't like girls. ---- kankuxoc, rated t for concept
1. Simplicity

**Simplicity.**

Kankurou likes it when things are simple.

He doesn't like mind games, or IQ tests, and especially not exams. He doesn't like poetry, old writings, paperwork. But most of all, Kankurou doesn't like girls.

So pretty, and wrapped up in their own appearances, and always smelling so delicious, like pies and curry and flowers.. Kankurou hates them. As beautiful, charming, as they can be, they play with his mind, make him think... tell him things and makes him believe them, then rip up his sanity and shove laughter and more games in his face. He thinks he will ignore the next invitation he receives from that of a female.

Guys, on the other hand, they're not too bad.. But a little too naive, and generally unintelligent anyway. Not to mention either too cocky or too insecure; he can't handle that. So nothing there.

Kankurou wonders why he even bothers to take any of this into consideration. He thinks, why does it matter if he likes girls or boys, or girls and boys? Why does it matter? He is a ninja, after all, and ninjas don't love, they fight.

He laughs now, at himself, his own thoughts, considerations. Go back to simple thinking, he says. It works better that way. I do not love, I fight, I follow orders. I fight for my life, my sensei's. My village. That is my purpose.

Not some silly girl or silly boy.

He has things figured out now.

And then he meets _her._

Her name is Maren and she is not like the others, no... she is soft, charming, but unknowingly. Without trying. She is ignorant, but not stupid, interesting, but simple; much like he is. He thinks she's nice. She doesn't say. Occasionally, though, he finds her staring at him when they're close, and when he's sleeping he dreams of whatever he can imagine that deals with her and very little clothing. He keeps these dreams secret from her, though, and she never asks; not out of curiosity, and not out of suspicion. If he were to fall in love, he thinks, with ANYONE.... it would be her.

The color of her cheeks today is red with the biting wind, and her hair is lighter and softer as it flies off her shoulders. She smiles at him, beckoning for him to join her by her place near the railing of the building they are on. He can't help but oblige, and soon finds himself huddled next to the girl's thin, cold body. They don't say much at first, and then she begins to talk.

"I love it up here," she says to him, not making eye contact and instead gazing out across the village. He nods in agreement, turning away from her face to see what she sees.

"I do too."

"It's beautiful."

"It is."

And then, something happens- she says something that makes Kankurou turn and stare directly into her eyes as he never has before, peering deep into them and bathing in their soft green glow. "Kankurou," she says, this time different from all the rest. There is a slight pause before she continues. "It's cold."

And with that statement, he finds himself pressing his lips to hers, wrapping his arms around her and feeling the thrill of his heart's jumping motions and tasting the careful hint of some common berry he can't really name right now in her breath. And she gladly kisses back, accepting the slide of his tongue against hers and the gentle sound of the repeated collision of their lips. Kankurou thinks he's in heaven; whatever a place that may be, he knows it would have this kind of pleasure and delight when and if he visits there.

They break away slowly, and Kankurou feels it's too soon though he doesn't dare attempt to kiss her again- at least, not yet- and they slip away from each other, staring once more out at the glorious city before them.

They do not speak of the kiss.


	2. Extention

**Extention.**

Kankurou decides to stay in the Konoha a week more.

He and his siblings had meant to leave today, but he doesn't want to. Instead, he wishes to help the repairs a little more, do a couple of little errands, see a little more of Maren... washing away the village and her from his mind is suddenly too hard and complex a thing to do in a day. So he asks for another week.

Though reluctant, his siblings grant him the extra seven days, and Kankurou runs off to find the girl he'd so gladly accepted as his friend. She is not in her usual spot near the sky, no.. this time he finds her by the lake, below a cliff and across from the dock where fishermen enjoy casting lines. She is alone, and from afar, she looks troubled. Kankurou dashes quickly across the water and joins her.

"Good morning," she half-greets him, and he sits at her side.

"You seem upset."

She smiles and looks up at him from the sparkling water. "You're leaving today," she replies simply, the smile frozen on her face even as her eyes begin pinching out tears. He is quick to correct her statement before they fall.

"A week," he tells her.

"A week more?"

"Yes."

She smiles more. "Then I am happy."

"Maren," Kankurou begins, "what's something you've always wished to do, but never have been able to?"

Her brows furrow; not in wonder of such a silly question, but in wonder of a good answer. "Fly," she answers after a moment or two of concentration. "I know I can run through the treetops, but I wish I could fly, like the birds do."

"If you could, would you fly right now?"

"Of course."

"Lay down."

This time her curious expression is one in wonder of such a silly request. Though, as she looks at him, she obeys. He only smiles down at her. "Don't panic," he says gently, and raises his hand. She raises with it.

Gasping, she floats over the water and watches her reflection dance in the sky. She laughs, and looks back at Kankurou. He smiles with her.

Another wave of his hand and she floats up further, arms outstretched and legs straight. She swears she can feel wings on her back and he knows it's the slender strings of chakra he's extending from his fingers. Her eyes are wild with excitement as she continues going higher, and his are full of joy upon watching the fragile girl laugh and cry out while the wind embraces her body's natural curves and lessens his work.

"You're beautiful in the sky," he mutters to himself, knowing she can't hear him but generally not caring at all.

A few more moments of the thrilling event and she's finally back at his side on the small slice of dry land before the lake. She throws her arms around him, pecking him quickly-but not nervously- on the cheek, and says in his ear, "You're the best friend I've ever had, Kanku," and forces them on the ground. His heart flutters with her words fresh in it.

"I will miss you when you're gone," she sighs after they calm down, returning to their original positions on the ground. "Even though you're a simple three days away, you won't be back for months, and I won't have time to come and see you... is this a goodbye, Kankurou?"

He is partially stunned at her sudden change of emotion, but quickly recovers with another soft smile on his face. "I'm here another week, Maren," he tells her, a tone in his voice complaining of her silliness, "please leave the goodbye speech for when I really am leaving."

She smiles back at him, nodding. "Of course."

And just like that, their heart-to-heart is ended. Now they move on to other things, like how to climb the earth-wall behind them, and why Kankurou can't make himself fly like he did her, and where did he stalk off to at night, anyway? And soon, the day is at its end; they say their goodbye-for-now's and go off on their own seperate ways.

Oh, the glory of an extended summer trip, and summer love...


	3. Troublemaking

**three. Troublemaking.**

Today Kankurou sees very little of Maren, and has to wander off somewhere else, find something else to do; which doesn't bother him much at all, since Maren was only one reason [though, don't doubt it- she was a big reason] why he asked to extend their stay in Konoha.

He easily finds his way through the streets of the village and sets himself on another rooftop, this one so that he is facing the rising sun. It's a warm, lazy day, and though the heat tempts him to fall asleep in his place, he yawns and looks around at the other rooftops for a sign of what to do.

Sure enough, he finds himself a task; though it isn't the most exciting he accepts it and leaps over to a tree close to the ninja academy. In it, there is a cat- sleek with black hair and dainty paws, meow-ing nonstop and glancing around at the ground that seems to be just a little too far down. He inches toward it; it hisses slightly until it realizes that Kankurou is it's only hope of getting down, and then the rest is a breeze. Once holding the animal in his gloved hands, he leaps off the tree and lands- more softly than expected- on the ground. The cat licks his face as he puts it on the ground.

"There," Kankurou says, nearly unessecarily, "you'll be fine now. Go on."

The cat doesn't leave, however, and Kankurou begins to wonder if this freshly-rescued kitty has, in fact, no home. To test his theory, he starts to walk away, carefully listening to the hardly-audible footsteps of the creature. Then he frowns, and looks behind himself. The cat isn't there.

....it's in front of him; Kankurou jumps. "Go on now," he insists. "Find your owners, I'm sure they miss you."

He doesn't get further than that, though, because a second later, three young ninja angrily appear in front of him. "Hey!" the 'leader' [or so it appears] calls. "That was our mission!"

Kankurou firsts finds himself speechless, but then doesn't do much but smirk at them. "Sorry," he says, with close to no genuine feeling in the word. He starts to walk off again but the defiant, leader-like kid jumps in front of him, persistant in- well, whatever it is he's trying to accomplish. "What do you want, kid?" he questions, apparently annoyed and not trying to hide it in the least.

"Put the cat back."

He laughs. "You as a ninja should just be happy you have less work." He paused before lowering his eyes and smirking more. "You can even say _you_ saved it from the tree, if you like."

"We can't leave without it," the girl of the group complains. He glances at her, silently reminding himself to laugh at her stupid hairstyle, and takes a single step backwards.

"Take it then," he says. "But I'm not wasting my time putting a perfectly content cat back in a tree. _And you call yourself ninjas_..."

He leaves quickly, and they don't follow. Kankurou is starting to admit boredom. His siblings are off helping around in town, and though he tried to help, all he could do was pick a cat from a tree? Kankurou rolls his eyes at his own lazy lack of effort.

Glancing around, he eagerly looks for something to do, something to consume his time while he waits for the evening.

All three sand siblings were always told one thing as they were growing up- If you go looking for trouble, you surely will find it. And though Kankurou doesn't really MEAN to find trouble, just something to hide from boredom with, he sure as hell finds it. Because just as he is about to get up and wander throughout the village again, he spots something- something he really shouldn't see.

The women's bathhouse.

Set now on this new personal mission, Kankurou lifts himself off the ground and walks nonchalantly towards the small building. No one seems to see him as he edges towards the small wooden bars and peeks in.

Oh, what a glorious sight- such beautiful girls, clad in nothing but their flawless, silky skin and bubbles, and so much laughter... If it weren't for their disgusting personalities, Kankurou knows he would decide to persue one of them, in the end. But now he doesn't think of that. He simply watches them as they soak their supposedly aching limbs in the hot water, occasionally standing up to step closer to a friend or floating across to feel the tiny waves fall over their necks and arms and every downwards curve of their bodies...

"Uh- whaaa?" Most girls inside the house look up at the sudden noise, and Kankurou is lucky enough not to have been seen- however, his luck is less available as he discovers the reason he's now on the ground...

Standing above him, a long, white-haired over-aged ninja clutches a tightly rolled newspaper and wears an expression of irritation. Dumbfounded, he stares back at the man who'd hit him on the back of the head.

Suddenly grinning, the incoming man waves to the girls inside- "It's okay, I've caught the peeker!" The screams of _PERVERT_! and _PEEPING-TOM_! from inside call out otherwise.

"You're not much of a hero," Kankurou mumbles, trying to get to his feet, but the old man hits him back down.

"You keep quiet," he orders. "You know, there's more to do than peek at girls! The village needs plenty of help, and you're here indulging in the art of feminely beauty? You should be ashamed."

His brows furrow. "Are you kidding me? Man, you're one to talk. You gonna try and tell me you're here to 'save the day' when you're just looking for an eyefull as well?"

He is hit again. "Enough!" The man cries. "Get off your feet, and we'll talk about this on the way."

Not bothering to question why he should even listen to the man, Kankurou finally makes it off the ground and rubs the back of his head. The man turns and starts to walk off, with him soon following. "I was doing research," the man defends himself, half-mumbling. Kankurou rolls his eyes but says nothing, only watches his feet move below him.

_What an awkward situation I'm in,_ he thinks.


	4. Secret

**Secret.**

Kankurou is eating candy.

The soft, silky, orange-flavoured sugar melts under his tongue as he sits, bored, at a table with the white-haired pervert. The man is talking, but Kankurou isn't listening- instead he ponders the making of his candy and thinks about Maren. _Too bad she wasn't in the bath house,_ he finds himself repeating.

"Hey, kid." The man is staring at him now, a suspiscious look of 'you-weren't-listening-how-dare-you-ignore-me' settling in his eyes. "What I just say?"

He tapped his fingers a moment, then shrugged. "Something about rice," he guessed, and stood up without a care as to the man's response. "Look," he continues, "I don't mean to be rude, but I really have to get going."

"Fine, fine, kid- just don't let me catch you sniffing around my ladies again, ya hear?"

Yeah, whatever, he calls back in his thoughts. He walks away from the small restaurant, hands shoved in his pockets. His fingers briefly brush the few pieces of individually-wrapped orange candy and he wonders if, perhaps, he should find Maren and offer them to her- despite how busy she mentioned she'd be.

Bored with nothing to do and a soft spot for wanting to see his chipper blonde friend, he decides to give it a shot. But as he wanders around town beneath the threatening sun in full-black, he loses hope and retreats to their spot by the lake.

The water gleams and glitters playfully before him, soft waves- encouraged by the wind- beckoning for him to join. He does little else but stare.

He wonders why he can't find a lover like the water; soft and gentle, beautiful and playful- but not cruel and manipulative. He really does hate girls, he reminds himself, but if he found one that was just like water, he thinks he could make an exception to love her.

"Show me perfection," he sighs, his breath blowing at the reflected sky. As if on cue, a wavering image of Maren appears- clad in little else but a light green shirt and khaki shorts. Her blonde hair is down, instead of held in an up-do with her headband, and she's grinning mischeviously. He frowns at it. "Maren..?"

It's not a reflection at all, he realizes and whips around to stare at the girl on the cliff behind him. He smiles at her and opens his mouth to speak, but she doesn't allow it- she jumps off the cliff and lands in the water behind him, creating a large splash that coats him in a thick film of liquid.

"Oh, Kankurou," she teases when she sees his shocked expression, "a little water won't kill you!"

"I don't like water," he responds sourly. _At least, not as clothing._

She laughs. "You're such a cat!" And he doesn't agree at all. Standing up and leaning over the water towards her a bit, he points his finger and drops his jaw to begin making a point, but she doesn't hear it- only splashes a bit of water into his mouth and grabs his hand, forcing him in with her.

He waves his arms and forces his eyes shut, yelling 'help' repeatedly until she calms him down. It is then she realizes something.

"Kankurou," she begins hesitantly, "you can't swim?"

The movement and noise ceases as he turns his head away from hers, blushing brightly. Purple makeup slips off his face in thin, slow driplets. "Kankurou..?"

"No," he half-snaps, "I can't." She blushes shamefull as they sit together on the soggy, half-drowning sand.

"I'm sorry."

A moment of silence goes by, and when he glances at her, he sighs with the realization that he cannot stay upset when he's got such a face before him. He forces a smile and playfully hits her arm. "Cheer up, kiddo," he grins. She smiles back.

"You really are a cat, though, you know," she mentions, and when he begins to reply, she swims and spashles off the the opposite side of the lake.

"That is cheating!" He calls out, but she doesn't care. She laughs, and he can't help but chuckle as well. "Fine then, stay there," he teases. "But now I won't give you your candy."

The mere mention of the sugary sweet is enough to convince her not to stay away for long, and she swims to the shore to be with her 'cat-like' friend. "You have candy for me?" she asks sweetly, a gleam in her eyes more mischeivious than he'd seen before. The look screams 'mindgame' at him, but he ignores it- after all, it is only candy.

Laughing slightly and shaking his head, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out three pieces of mostly-soaked orange candy. Maren laughs at his flustered explanation; "I-it must've gotten w-wet when I was p-pushed in.." he manages, and begins to put them back in his pocket when she stops him. Her hand takes a piece and slips it into her mouth thoughtfully.

"It tastes amazing this way," she says with an honest tone in her voice. "Much better than it would have dry."

His conscience leaves him and Kankurou leans into her with an admirable gaze. "I'd like to test that theory," he says, and before she can ask how, he pushes himself onto her, staring deep into her eyes with such intensity that she can't continue asking her question. His fingers trace her jawline gently, feeling the soft curves of her face. Her eyes strain to keep open, though fall shut as his lips nuzzle their way onto hers, then pull back to tease her.

He isn't even sure is this is what she wants- if she _wants_ to be doing this with him, but he doesn't care; for now, he decides it's all right to be selfish... and she doesn't seem to mind afterall.

His mouth at last ceases to pull back and collapses onto hers, nearly devouring her with the emotion and general need he realizes he has for her. The fingers that had been touching her face now wander into her hair, twisting around strands of glowing yellow-white beauty as hers slip under his sleeve and pushes it upward. A quick but definite shock flies throughout his body and he nearly pulls away from her again as it simmers into his spine.

_This kiss is not like the other_, he notes to himself, tasting the lingering orange sugar from her lips. _This is more... _He struggles to find the word.

But it doesn't come, and though it bothers him, he realizes he doesn't mind as long as he has Maren against himself like this, forever. "I've got a secret," he mutters through the clash of their lips, though he doesn't go on to tell her what it is.

_Passion._

_Yeah, that's the word. This one is far more passionate._


End file.
